Music industry bosses came under furious attack last night from police for glamorising firearms as the Home Office called an emergency summit to tackle Britain's gun warfare culture.

Record companies that market rap music to young people have flatly refused to co-operate with the Metropolitan Police in tackling teenage attitudes, Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur revealed, blaming a 'backdrop of music' for influencing alienated young men.

The emergency summit was called after the fatal shooting of two teenage girls, caught in the crossfire between rival gangs outside a New Year's Eve party in Birmingham. It has focused national attention on gun crime, in particular why some young men feel they need to carry a gun.

Ghaffur singled out the influence of often violent rap music which glamorises gun culture.

'These are young men at an impressionable age, lacking maturity and boundaries,' he said, accusing record companies of hiding behind artists' 'contractual arrangements' in refusing to release their stars for anti-gun campaigns. He also called for 'shoot-'em-up' style video games, such as PlayStation's new car chase game The Getaway, to be banned and revealed that routine armed patrols will be deployed on inner-city streets as a visible deterrent.

Ghaffur said guns were 'fashion statements' for the young, influenced by rap and garage artists such as south London's So Solid Crew. Yet among artists approached by police to front anti-gun campaigns, only Ms Dynamite agreed.

His comments came as police intelligence sources warned of a new wave of gun smuggling from the Balkans in the past month, with 20 Uzis discovered in a single haul in Dover.

The emergency summit of police, probation officers, academics and others is to be hosted by the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, next week and will tackle issues ranging from the Balkan gun smuggling to a ban on realistic replica firearms.

Ministers are particularly interested in ways of dissuading teenagers from wanting to carry firearms.

'We don't have a gun culture like the United States, and Ministers want to take action before we get to that stage,' said one Home Office source.

His comments came as police in Birmingham were studying CCTV footage of the area around the hairdressing salon where Charlene Ellis, 18, and Latisha Shakespear, 17, were killed and two others injured on New Year's Eve. Charlene's twin, Sophie, remained in hospital under armed guard, while the girls' cousin Cheryl Shaw, 17, has been discharged.

The killings apparently took place after rival gang members arrived at the party two hours before the 4am shootings, prompting some guests to leave for fear of violence. Rewards totalling £35,000 have been offered for information.

Figures to be released on Thursday will show that firearms incidents soared again in 2002 and are rising faster than previously.

One in seven gun crimes in London now involves 'respect' shootings - punishments for minor slights such as disputes over women - not traditional drugs or robbery. The Metropolitan Police say gun use is spreading beyond black Yardie-style gangs: 'black-on-black' crime has remained relatively steady in London, but is rising among other communities. Police are particularly concerned about Albanian and Turkish gangs using automatic weapons.

Under police pressure Blunkett is preparing a clampdown on dummy replica guns used in up to a third of 'gun crime', terrifying victims who do not know they are not real. Officials are seeking a solid legal distinction between replicas and children's toys.

New curbs on children buying airguns are also likely, while Blunkett will tomorrow announce five-year sentences for carrying guns or reactivated weapons - guns supposedly rendered obsolete, illegally converted back to fire live rounds - in public.